#dnd lore

[lunastrophe]

I'm curious if you know of how the other casting classes, like Bards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks are seen in Loth-sworn societies? If it's mentioned at all.

Oh, this is a really interesting topic! 😃 There are some information on drow bards, sorcerers and warlocks in Drow of the Underdark (3.5e) - I find especially the concept of drow bard totally awesome.

🕷️ Drow Bards - surfacers often do not realize that drow have an ancient bardic tradition, "one that transforms the traveling entertainer, trickster, and storyteller of the surface into one of the most horrific taskmasters and assassins of the Underdark".

Drow bards are somewhat uncommon in drow societies and they often do not travel the world, but usually connect themselves to some noble House, join a theatrical troupe or become employees in various city locations for artistic performances.

Performing can be deadly dangerous to a drow bard, especially since drow tastes are notoriously fickle - bards who fail to amuse their clients sometimes find themselves a part of the next performance: "disappointed audiences are not shy about taking out their frustrations on those who fail to provide suitable entertainment. The fatality rate among performers is high."

Many drow bards study various means of death-dealing, including the use of poisons, and are skilled spies and assassins. Sornafein, patron of Matron Mother Z'hindia Melarn from Menzoberranzan, was a bard - he was known to kill his rivals with strings of his instruments.

Drow artists in general are considered "even more decadent than typical members of their race".

🕷️ Deathsinger is a specific type of a bard, unique to drow culture. Deathsingers are rare and they combine their bardic skills with necromancy - they are able, for example, to control the dead through their songs.

🕷️ Drow Sorcerers - their position in drow societies is usually similar to that of drow wizards and arcane spellcasters in general. "Wizards and sorcerers are found in nearly equal numbers among the drow (...) and sorcerous talent runs strong through the chaotic and inherently magical drow."

🕷️ Drow Warlocks - "warlocks are not unknown among the drow, but they are seen as something of an oddity. The race's affinity with and connection to the Lower Planes is too great for them to not exhibit some sort of taint from beyond, and demonbinders are among the most common examples found."

Drow warlocks have "strong links to the Abyss and to Lolth, but those ties more directly bind them to Lolth's servants - her demons - than to the Spider Queen herself."

Also, I just found a curious thing about female drow warlocks:

If powers of a female drow warlock come from bargains with (or descent from) demons associated with Lolth, she can be considered blessed by the Spider Queen. If such a female meets all the other priesthood requirements, she can have the status of a priestess, even though she is technically an arcane spellcaster.

Apparently, this is one exception to the rule that all drow priestesses must be divine spellcasters. Such "warlock priestessess" are rare, though. They are also expected to serve the church and the noble houses rather than to run them.

[lilaeleaf]

Saana swore to her great-aunt, the Matriarch of the town of Silstene, that she would keep an important secret about the town’s history. Aileen bound Saana by magic and revealed the terrible past of Hirus Dumont, Saana’s mentor.

[andauril]

Something I've spent a lot of time thinking about: Elves have a different concept of when adulthood begins that isn't based on emotional or physical maturity but on their relationship to memory and trance. During their first century, memories of their past lives are slowly phased out during trance until they can only recall memories of their current life, and once they can't recall their past lives in trance anymore, they're considered adults. There is also a limited number of elven souls to go around; new elven souls don't really come into existence anymore, but already existing elven souls CAN become cut off from the cycle of reincarnation. Basically what I just can't help but wonder is how this interacts with Astarion and undeath/vampirism.

Astarion was 39 when he became a vampire spawn, aka, by the time of his death/transformation, he still had access to his past life memories in trance. So, I wonder, what happened to his trance memories once he was turned? Did he still experience the slow phasing-out of past live memories that a living elf would before the end of their first century, or did becoming undead interfere with that somehow? As in, when he became a vampire spawn, did he suddenly lose the connection to his past live memories?

The reason why I wonder is because, afaik, DROW do not experience their past lives. They're obviously elves, but they were actually cursed a long, long time ago. And their souls don't usually go to Arvandor to await reincarnation (they end up in the Demonweb Pits, usually; Eilistraeen drow are a different matter). BASICALLY what I'm getting at here is that curses seem to be able to interfere with how trance is experienced and with access to memories of your past lives and the primal elven soul. Vampirism is a curse (just one that does effect individuals instead of a whole population). Just something I keep wondering about because I'm a nerd.

[psychhound]

d&d 5e languages and gender

i know this is already a very nerdy blog but please indulge me a moment,,

for my homegame i've been fleshing out how different languages in the game deal with gender / pronouns based on their cultures (some of them are canon languages but some are for our setting) and it made the little nerd in me very happy so i wanted to make some headcanons for the rest of the dnd languages and share it for anyone who'd like to steal / take inspo

feel absolutely free to use these in homegames but if you use for anything streamed or for your own ttrpg/homebrew/fics then crediting/linking back is appreciated :o)

disclaimer: this blog is run by a genderqueer trans man and any queerphobic interaction will immediately be blocked

common

common started off with the standard he, she, & they pronouns but simply Loves a good loanword and so its not uncommon to hear people using pronouns from other languages in otherwise entirely common dialogue. there is some Fighting about whether this is appropriative based on the individuals culture or whether its unfair to people who only speak common to keep up with them all

dwarvish

not too much variety in what most people would consider pronouns, it tends to be more one singular neutral pronoun for someone you don't know / don't know well, and then variations that are more like honorifics than anything else. their pronoun might translate more readily to "skilled with a hammer" than anything regarding a gender

elvish

lots of pronoun options that explore different presentations of gender but they are also age/experience locked. a feminine male elf would use different pronouns as a child, teen, young adult, young adult with job, middle age, middle aged with children, etc. using pronouns from a different life experience bracket from you is incredibly frowned upon and people just dont do it

giant

there is one pronoun for giants & kin and one pronoun for not giants and the one for not giants is not derogatory at all, its just used to differentiate who is part of the family or not (individuals adopted by giants tend to use the giant pronoun)

gnomish

LOTS of variation in pronouns. gnomes love inventing new pronouns. there are general grammatical rules that they follow to Signify that its a pronoun but hearing three new pronouns a day is like. not uncommon. lots of gnomish teens go through a phase of making up at least four new pronouns they want to go by. uncommon to only go by one set. typically introduced along with your name

(more under the cut)

goblin

no gendered pronouns, all pronouns are instead structured around relations between individuals. so one person would use brother pronoun with one person, son pronoun with another, best friend pronoun to another. the family pronouns are not locked to actual family, just what the relationship is like. if you don't know someone well, its "cousin", "niece/nephew", "auntie/uncle", or "grandparent" depending on their age

halfling

pronouns are split between public and private use. in general in the community or with outsiders, there's a single pronoun that translates loosely to "friend". actual individual pronouns are only known to and used with close friends and family. there's a small handful of them and only some of them have gendered connotations

orc

there are only four categories of pronouns: masculine, feminine, both/mixed, and neither. but there's a decent amount of variations because there are varying levels of formality for each of them. there are ways to conjugate them so they're more formal and respectful, but also lots of diminutives to make them more affectionate and closely-bonded

abyssal

no use of pronouns. lots of very specific derogatory terms that are used in place of them. i shant elaborate.

celestial

lots of variations in pronouns. they are not very closely tied to gender, but are tied to very specific aesthetics. instead of having individual pronoun words, in celestial you just use root words. so one person might use the root word for things that are soft and gentle and natural for their pronoun, while another person might use the root word for things associated with dark and murky and mysterious things for theirs. tend to be tied to domains

draconic

no use of pronouns, only names and titles. if you happen to share a name with another individual who speaks draconic, you would need a unique title to go after it. the full name and full title is said at every reference of someone

deep speech

deep speech has pronouns probably but hearing them for any individual you dont share a close identity group with makes you violently nauseous and then the word immediately leaves your mind so it's just really hard to learn them

infernal

there are words for "you", "me", "us", "we", "this one", "that one", "those ones" etc but no classic pronouns as far as individual usage goes. if someone really needs to be specific they would use whatever pronoun that individual uses in their native language. tieflings have introduced a Lot of neopronouns into infernal but theyre all borrowed from other languages and then reworked into infernal grammar and tend to be localized to communities

primordial

individuals are referred to their elemental type (or "none") rather than pronouns tied to gender. so it would be more like "the windy one" or "the rocky one" than anything like he or she

sylvan

no standard gendered pronouns, it's entirely nounself. so basically infinite amount of pronouns that are easily understood by anyone familiar with that noun. so you would have things like pebble pronoun, teapot pronoun, sword pronoun, with some general affiliations with presentation but less so with gender

undercommon

pronouns are based on level of respect and not gender, but there are also pronouns specifically used for children. like craftsmen would typically all use the same pronoun unless one was incredibly successful and respected, or had a very bad reputation, etc. there are pronouns used only for royalty and pronouns used only for deities

speak with animals

when translated into common, tends to just be translated as the animal's bio sex, but it can go a little screwy when speaking about creatures who have biological sexes so outside the humanoid concept of sex and gender that even magic dont fuckin know how to translate it. kind of just makes a weird bubbly noise in its place

if you read this far thank you thank you and if you end up using these in your campaign lore or fics i would love to know :o)

[randomfanner]

So Astarion's hair is short.

Astarion's a high elf and his hair is short. That doesn't seem like it matters to much until you remember that long hair is an important thing in Elf Culture. And well I do not think Astarion has ever been one to care much about Elf Culture, I do believe that he would take into consideration beauty standard. Not to mention he has white hai, a sign of good luck and something he would have a great amount of time flaunting.

So it would not surprise me if Astarion had absolutely beautiful long hair and Cazador forced him to cut it off. A horrible disgrace for an Elf and, due to how slow elf hair grows, it is extremely hard to correct.

Along with this I believe Astarion misses does his long hair and most importantly: doing his hair, and so if Tav has long hair he absolutely loves to play with it, braid it and do all the things he used to do to his hair. Which is considered a pretty intimate gesture.

He is extremely picky with how he does it too and if you let Astarion do your hair it is a commitment. He will make you sit there for several hours as he gets every detail perfect. And then he will proceed to take you around to show off his hard work to everyone he can.

Source on all the elf hair stuff: https://filibusterfrog.tumblr.com/post/185869927043/filibusterfrog-updated-elf-hair-part-2

The second part is based on a wonderful comic I cannot find and I will not deny it.

[wanderingswampbeast]

Long Post: Why I Don’t Like The Drow

I’ve been ranting about this to a friend on discord (a lot of points I make will come from him) but I’ve finally figured out what my issue with the drow is outside of inherently evil groups being dumb.

The drow are boring. Drow lore is less of a dive into a unique culture and more of a list of fucked up things they do. Like, I cannot name a single interesting aspect of typical drow society that does not directly involve murder, sexism, or slavery, or Lolth. And even then, most of those things are written about in an incredibly bland fashion with them.

The Drow don’t really have much depth to them, and are just kind of evil for evil’s sake (or “because Lolth said so”). They do slavery, but the only real purpose of doing slavery for them is “because Lolth said so”. It isn’t for cheap labor, it’s to be more evil. They betray each other purely because that’s what evil people do. They’re misandrist, not for any real societal reason, but because Lolth hates men. There’s none of what would make slavery an interesting topic or story element, no justification for why they should be allowed to commit one of the worst injustices possible, no real economic reason for it. They just do it because Lolth says they should, and from a writing perspective it hammers home the fact that they’re evil. They aren’t evil because they enslave and murder, they enslave and murder because they’re evil, if that makes any sense.

Them being written as comically evil as they are also hurts them from a worldbuilding perspective. They’re so reliant on slaves for menial labor that the lower class of their society struggle to get jobs. Drow culture so obsessed with betrayal and dumbass house wars that even when actively under attack from the outside they sabotage each other. They’re so decadent that their buildings are held up with magic and semi regularly collapse when a spell fails. To put it bluntly, drow society feels like one that should have collapsed in a few centuries, which, funnily enough, is way longer than D&D elves live.

Their culture being so monolithic also makes writing anything about them difficult. Every drow antagonist is going to have near identical motivations, methods, and ideologies as every other drow antagonist. Every drow protagonist is going to ultimately feel very similar to Drizzt, because leaving their fucked up society to become a do-gooder is such a common backstory element that they added a whole extra god just for doing that. In fact, you can divide 90% of drow characters from any official materials into these categories:

Manservant

Ambitious male, usually a wizard (5 bucks says he has long hair and a widow’s peak)

Dommy Mommy Warcrime Woman

Drizzt Do’Urden or one of his many duplicates

Self-loathing and/or resentful Drider

And finally, their existence almost purely to be humanoid enemies you can fight at nearly any levels is just kind of lazy. This is a problem that I have with the “evil races” of a lot of fantasy but having a group that’s evil by birth just feels like an excuse to not have to write actual motivations for your antagonists. It’s the difference between “go attack this camp of soldiers because they’re part of the SkullMurder army and their general wants to use our land to build a dread fortress” vs “go attack this camp of soldiers specifically because they’re drow/goblins/orcs/the dreaded peepee-poopoo folk”. Using stuff like this just feels like an excuse to not have to write an actual antagonist since it comes pre-written in the group’s lore. This has the side effect of whenever such a group is the antagonist of the plot, the players or audience know near exactly what to expect. The orc is here to conquer, the goblin is here to steal, and the drow is here to enslave or do some dark ritual.

I’ve legitimately heard people say “well if XYZ can’t be inherently evil anymore, who will we use as bad guys?” It’s very simple: whoever the fuck we want. Write an evil queen, or a scheming wizard, or an underground slave trade network. For God’s sake, anyone can be evil, you don’t need to tie that to a specific ethnic group and write it as “they’re just like that”. Write an actual character for your antagonist.

[morgaknight]

Tiefling anatomy HC’s

I CANT BE STOPPED.

-tieflings are born with horns that curve flush to their little baby skulls. They’re initially smaller and kinda squishy to touch.

-they will grow and harden in the coming months after their birth, roughly taking the shape that they will keep for the rest of their lives.

-tieflings shed their horns just once in their lifetime, usually after they’ve lost all their baby teeth and as an early step in puberty for a young tiefling.

-lots of doting parents will keep their tiefling childs “baby horns” like how some parents will keep baby teeth as a keepsake.

-Omg imagine like, a kid losing one, and the other is kinda wiggly just hanging in there.

-they tie some cord around the loose horn and the other end to a door

-all the dumb cliches humans do for loose teeth. (Oh no it’s so cute)

-the adult horns come in much bigger and harder than the baby horns.

-a tiefling tail can betray a lot about how a tiefling is feeling. Depending on how it whips and curves in a conversation can tell you if a tiefling is happy, scared, or angry. It’s called a “tell-tale-tail”. HAH. GEDDIT?

-canonically tiefling will often wrap their tails around their waists or legs when in crowds or around strangers, to avoid them getting stepped on or tugged.

-Tieflings have blood vessels and nerve endings that extend from their fingertips and into their nails, like a cats. 

-Also like cats' nails, they have a “quick”, that if trimmed will bleed and is very painful. 

-This is why all tieflings seem to have elongated nails, even if they are in a position or profession that longer nails would be a hindrance. A tieling can file their nails to be more blunt, but a tiefling would never purposefully trim their nails too short and cut the quick. 

-I imagine there being a big discourse around trimming a young tieflings nails, (probably done by an ignorant non-tiefling parent, or the care givers at orphanages) as it’s considered inhumane… like declawing cats

-there are brands of inner-race discrimination in tiefling communities. Most prominent being how far back the infernal blood can be traced.

-a teifling line that is generations upon generations old (like, their great great great great great grandmother slept with a cambion for example ) is held in higher esteem than a first generation tiefling, because the “taint” is so far removed, and that family has had generations to establish themselves in the tiefling community and culture.

-a first generation tiefling (like, their mother was a cambion, for example) is looked down upon because the “taint” is much more immediate.

-also canonically, a group of 3 or more tieflings is called a “curse” of tieflings (derogatory)

[galesdevoteewife]

Some DnD bathroom lore for whoever is interested (for any reason)

Ehem, so, a brief of where this madness started. I was forming a story for my Tav giving a bath to her dearest wizard after the final battle and of course this lovely corner in Elfsong Tavern was a good spot for this plot. But then the big question struck me:

WAIT how does the plumbing works in DnD......??????

As a humble bard who can't summon water (preferably warm too), where am I suppose to get water and how do I get rid of a full bathtub after I am done??? Don't tell me I'll have to scoop it out of the window with my twigly str 8 arms… ✨Well here's a very informative article, thanks to the lovely writer, that I really want to share!✨ Okay, no wonder Gale likes to stay home. Another benefit from dating a wizard is you are likely to have magical bathrooms, something to think about when you are considering his proposal? XDDD

[themadlu]

Astarion's Star Elf Background Headcanons

In collaboration with the lovely @spacebarbarianweird!

A bit of a less popular take on Astarion’s background headcanons—I know it is generally accepted that he is originally a moon elf from the Faerunian upper class, but, between in-game trivia and developing my own stories, a different idea came up. 

I’ll outline why I think the Star Elf headcanon fits the sassy elf, and how it plays into his storyline.

Obviously, this is all done for the shits and giggles, so every headcanon is valid, and I’d love to hear about different takes on Astarion’s origins!

Race: Star Elves

Star Elves, or Ruar-tel-quessir, have only recently returned to Faerun due to repeated attacks by an extra-planar entity on their home-realm of Sildëyuir. 

Because of their prolonged absence and reclusive communities, Star Elves are not familiar with most of Toril’s customs and history. In Sildëyuir, they had no contact with most other species (such as humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, etc.), and they prefer to keep to themselves once in Faerun too. 

They are particularly wary of humans, as their misuse of magic and warmongering tendencies were what caused Star Elves to flee Toril in the first place. 

They consider themselves better than most other races, only getting along with other elves. They fear for Moon Elves and half-elves who mix with other species, and they consider them overly-generous and too naive. 

As such, Star Elves tend to come across as aloof and cautious. (I know this may not sound like Astarion at all, but bear with me).

Their moral alignment is purely chaotic, with a majority of them being in the chaotic good or neutral categories. 

Physically, Star Elves share some traits with their fellow Moon Elves: light skin (check) and gold, red or silver (check) hair. 

However, Star Elves have grey or violet-coloured eyes with gold flecks in them (imagine an Astarion with violet eyes!).

Star Elves are also taller than other elves, standing between 5½ to 6 ft tall, with a slender build.

They are also considered extremely beautiful by human standards, much more so than any other type of elf. 

Astarion’s Background as a Star Elf:

Right, let’s talk about objective things first: physicality. 

Astarion fits the Star Elf type quite well: 

He has silver hair, light skin (given he is still the palest of the bunch even after he is well fed).

He fits the height range at 5 ft 9.

He has a slender body (a bit too built for an elf, but that is likely Larian knowing what sells),

Most importantly, he is strikingly handsome. Exceedingly so, more than most other elves in the game. 

As there is no confirmation about pre-vampirism eye colour, in my head he used to have violet eyes. I think that would have made him stand out in Baldurian society even more. 

Which gets me to the more subjective part of personality and backstory. 

Aloof and cautious may not be the first qualities that come to mind thinking of Mr Sass, but work with me. 

Someone aloof is not overly friendly, being cool and distant instead. Is Astarion friendly? I mean, genuinely friendly to people, and not forcing himself to look eager because he is forced to do so by Cazador or by circumstances? 

He threatens Tav as soon as they meet, is snarky with everyone else for a good portion of Act 1 (and with some even during Act 2 and 3), and at the end of game party he keeps mostly to himself.

Ultimately, Tav is the only one he seems comfortable enough to be open and friendly with, and that requires a lot of trust, care and work (especially for good-aligned Tavs). 

As for the cautious side, he is a bloodthirsty little shit who loves a good fight, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who would throw himself into desperate situations (without proper compensation at least). 

He disapproves of Tav doing things for free or forcing him into situations where the risks are too great, often stating that ignoring those needing help is the easiest thing, they just need to ‘look away and keep walking’. 

His inherent racism towards other races (ehem, gnomes) can be a result of spending his early years in a very secluded environment.

He presents himself as someone loving life luxuries, but I think that's his Baldur's Gate, more constructed persona. He seems just as happy to fondle about in the dirt TWICE, despite claiming he is not used to it. Maybe he's not as upper class as he wants to appear.

Granted, these traits may be a result of him being a glorified sex slave subject to unimaginable torture for 200 years, but I think his need to be have the upper hand in power dynamics existed before his undeath too.

The chaotic nature is evident, and I headcanon he starts off as chaotic neutral, starts leaning into the evil side as he gets corrupted by power first and by abuse after, then he can either get back to chaotic neutral with a good-aligned companion or become fully chaotic evil as the Ascendant. 

And this leads me to the actual backstory.

Astarion’s Backstory:

Larian originally set Astarion out to be a noble, then changed his background to charlatan and, in some lost character sheet, courtesan (fancy type of prostitute). I’ll stick with the final charlatan/courtesan version. 

Astarion was born somewhere in Faerun in a community of Star Elves. 

His family was of poor background, having fallen out with the leaders of the enclave.

That, paired with the isolation of the community, prompted Astarion to leave his home in his early 20s, slightly earlier than usual for elves. 

He wanted more from life than being stuck in a reclusive society and being looked down upon from others. He wanted to live a comfortable existence, be wealthy, be admired, and to achieve that he needed one thing: power. 

He headed to Baldur’s Gate (convincing fellow travellers to let him on their carts, horses, etc.) with nothing more than the clothes on his person, attracted by its reputation as a multicultural hub brimming with opportunities. He did forge some documents proving he already had some basic qualification to enter law school (not sure reclusive elves issue any), completed his studies and started a career as magistrate. 

During this time, he quickly realised how his looks were one of his biggest strengths in forging alliances. He had been complimented before, but most Star Elves are beautiful, so he was not as universally admired as he was in Baldur’s Gate. He used and abused this knowledge, flirting with individuals from many other races (gnomes aside, he has standards) and genders, enjoying the perks his smooth persona got him (money, status, promotions) and revelling in the adulation of his admirers.

He became even more power hungry, signing laws because they would benefit him or his upper class acquaintances rather than the general population. He was ready to do anything to achieve his goals. 

It was in one of the many soirees he attended that he came across Cazador (or rather, Cazador noticed him). The Vampire Lord saw an astonishingly handsome, young and inexperienced elf who could work most people around his manicured slim fingers and immediately singled him out. Studied him. I don’t think he introduced himself before turning him; rather, he gathered information about him via his connections and learned he was an up and coming magistrate, an outsider, conveniently with no family or stable relationships who would miss him or go look for him should he disappear. 

We know Cazador is a machiavellian villain, so he probably found a way to convince Astarion (through a bribe and pulling at his dislike of lower class vagrants) into signing a law forcibly evicting the Gur from the land they settled on, on the basis of it belonging to some patriar or noble and therefore their permanence being illegal. Cazador knew retaliation would be swift, and I bet he probably even had someone tell the Gur which magistrate had them kicked out. 

Cazador waited nearby while Astarion was being brutally assaulted, chasing off the Gur thugs to claim his prized future spawn. He didn’t need permission to bite Astarion and turn him, but he asked likely because he knew he would never turn down a chance at eternal life and because it would be another way to torment him later (‘Remember boy, I gave you the grace of my gift, you begged for it!’). Probably, Astarion’s last words as a living elf were, ‘Do…any…thing…please’. 

After becoming a spawn and suffering centuries of abuse, Astarion forgot about his past, himself and his family. He doesn’t even remember what type of elf he is (Moon or Star). His parents may still be alive, but with their life being secluded from the outside world, it is unlikely he will come across them in their lifetime.

[space-blue]

Sad Astarion realisation

I'm doing DnD research for fic setting and have come to a pretty horrifyin realisation I wasn't aware of while playing the game.

You'll notice if you play elf or drow, or have Astarion sleeping at camp, that you have a different pose, with a certain finger shape. Larian's way of showing elves meditating, I guess.

So elves/drow don't need to sleep. Instead they enter a sort of meditative trance. The content of this trance is how they actually tell what stage of their life they are in!

Before around 30yo, as a child, they dream of their past as a pure spirit basically frolicking with their god in heaven. Another fun fact, elves are on a perpetual reincarnation roulette and never get to stay in heaven because of past issues. So they all come from a small pool of original elf souls, and hardly get a pit stop in heaven before being sent back. And elven children basically see visions and experiences of their very first era as a unique soul.

Then from 30+ they begin to see memories of their life as well as those early heaven days. This marks adoleascence.

Then from around 100yo, they can ONLY dream/view moments of their lived life. Supposedly explaining why elves can be so focused on some stuff (create good and useful memories that you get to relive in trance!)

Then from 400+ they begin to see memories of their past lives or even other elves lives and become an 'elder', as well as tending to get more concerned with elf business in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway...

Astarion

Babygirl.

He got snatched at 39!!!!! This means it hadn't been many years at all since he began dreaming of his personal memories. And we all know he was a raging asshole. And then he dies...

And we meet him around 200? This means that every night of his life, he enters a trance for about 4h per night, and gets to only revisit memories of LIVING WITH FUCKING CAZADOR.

He gets *maybe* 9 years of him being an asshole magistrate, and 161 years worth of memories of being tortured, abused, controlled, and made to seduce people for Cazador.

No wonder he's haunted as fuck! I mean, besides the horrors. At least we humans get sleepless nights and abstract nightmares. Astarion gets 4h of Cazador digest. Every. Night.

Until he meets us. And then every memory he makes with us is a memory he gets to revisit instead.

[revan-escence]

Actually I'm not done with this post. Have Rauva getting her own snack after being denied live food for dinner again.

Also you can tell I have not been drawing at all recently. There will be more Rauva lore [this is a threat].

[lunastrophe]

BG3 Elven Lore 🌙 Astarion's Name

I stumbled across this popular theory that Astarion's name means Little Star - but personally, I prefer to derive his name from DnD version of elven language. I think that the result is much more interesting 🙂

Astarion - it looks somewhat similar to aasterinian (quicksilver, mercury as a metal), with the last syllable changed into a suffix -ion (noble).

So, Astarion's name could be connected to a definition of mercurial character - changeable, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next. Mercurial can also mean: animated, quick-witted, having the characteristics of eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, and thievishness. Suits him!

Suffix -ion is commonly used as a term of respect to address the scions of noble elven families who are not entitled to "lord" or "lady" (based on A Treatise on Espruar). It could nicely point to Astarion's social status: noble, but not of the highest rank.

Child name - if you prefer the theory that Astarion's name is his child name (customarily given by elven parents to their children and used until the elf can be considered an adult) - "mercurial" could still fit. I can totally imagine Astarion as a hyperactive, hard-to-control, shrewd kid... prone to mood swings, maybe?

Ancunin - using D&D Elvish as a point of reference, Astarion's last name can be neatly split into an (hand) - cu (in) - nin (ritual).

So, "hand in ritual". In a foreboding sense, it could point to Astarion's role in Cazador's ritual - but it could also suggest, for example, that his elven ancestors were connected to some arcane rituals or religious practices in their community.

[missbaphomet]

We're making lore breakthroughs people

[alpaca-clouds]

The DnD Lore Problem - Accessibility and Characters (and how BG3 might not help)

You know what? I am gonna talk about DnD Lore and the accessibility of that lore. I talked about this exessively before. But to summarize that long blog very shortly:

Wizards of the Coasts currently makes the mistake of putting basically most DnD Lore behind a paywall, rather than offering official ressources. This leads to a lot of tables actually playing with their original worlds, rather than Toril/Faerûn, which in turn also means, that they are not spending money on official products. While my anti-capitalist ass things that the lore should be accessible just so that people can enjoy it, I also think that this inaccessibility actually costs WotC A LOT OF MONEY.

Today I want to talk about another aspect of this inaccessibility, that is kinda linked to some of the stuff I talked about before, but also is linked to the things WotC is currently not doing in terms of both Honor Among Thieves and Baldur's Gate 3. A thing, that also might not quite work with BG3, though.

See, the core problem of this inaccessibility is, that a) there is no official place where you can just get base information about the world and the timeline, b) this world has grown organically for about half a century, which lead to clutter, but also to the fact that things are at times showing their age.

I might actually make a post on the gods and religion in the world at some other point - but for now let me talk about something else: Extended universes and access points.

The Problem with Extended Universes

Okay, let's talk about how a lot of the big franchises for the longest time have told their meta stories - including DnD - and how it kinda struggles to find its audience. The extended universe.

I am frankly not entirely sure what franchise has started this. I am assuming it was Star Trek? But that is just a guess. But at some point in the 60s oder 70s someone had the idea that: "Hey, we could totally give the fans more to chew on by making official tie-in comics and novels!"

And that was how it worked for very long. Like a lot of the big franchises had at times around 10 novels and comics (if not more) releasing per year that would just explore other parts of the universe and allow the very engaged fans to... well, learn more about the world. Now, I am not going to talk about all the drama connected to the Star Wars stuff, but if you know, you know.

DnD did this too. (As did a lot of the big TTRPG systems, like Shadowrun and WoD as well.) Having a lot of tie in stuff - in the case of DnD mostly novels - that told more stories on the world and also established like some big player characters within the world. Elminster Aumar is probably one of the best examples here.

Those established some characters that play a big role within the world and also told just more stories of those big world changing events. In the recent DnD history that would be stuff like the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague and the Second Sundering.

Now, here we have one big issue. And one issue where I am not entirely certain where it arose from. But the fact is: In recent years, people invest way less into those kind of books. This is just a fact.

It is the reason why those big universes went from publishing like ten novels a year to often not more than three. We saw that in the failure of the extended Universe Disney tried to pull off for Pirates of the Caribbean (though I will still maintain that another big problem was that they barely marketed that at all - hi, everyone, who did not know there were extended universe novels for PotC). We also saw that with League of Legends, who really, really tried to tell a lot more stories with short stories and then also some novels set in Runeterra, before finally giving up, because most people didn't care.

In terms of Dungeons & Dragons I can totally see that a lot of people will also say: "I do not care what some other people's characters do within the world." Buuuuuut...

Stories actually can help you understand the world. Which brings me to...

The Elminster Problem

Okay, I do not know how to put this, but... If you look at the novels coming out for DnD literally half of them focus on either Elminster Aumar or Drizzt Do'Urden. Characters that have pretty much been around since the very beginning and. Look, I don't know how to put it but... It shows.

I am currently reading some of the newer novels and the fact is, that they do not really feel like fantasy books from the 2010s and 2020s. Because Elminster and Drizzt are very clearly characters originating in a very different time when stories were told very differently.

I mean, just look at Elminster. He is a wanna-be Gandalf character. He is from the early, early days of fantasy and... Look, I personally just really am unable to identify with a character like this.

And while Drizzt is a bit better as a character, but even he... How to put this delicately? They are both very much characters written by white cishet men for white cishet men. There, I said it.

I am noticing this a lot with reading Salvatore's books currently. Like, female characters are not overly sexualized, which is a plus. But they also very much exist most of the time in service to a man or at least in relation to a man. There is not a lot of female characters running around that have their own agency.

Which kinda leads to another thing. I actually saw this one brought up by one of those very cliché nerdy Youtube channels talking on DnD, who recognized the problem as well: There are basically two large groups of DnD players who barely intersect. One is the cliché nerds, the other is a largely queer and largely diverse group. And the youtube guy, who was very in the white cishet nerd group, suspected that actually the later group makes up more of the player base by now.

Buuuut... that is also the group who really do not get catered to by the canon lore so far. That was until 2023 with DnD:HAT and BG3 - both catering actually a lot to those groups.

Honor Among Thieves and the undermarketed books

Okay, here is the thing: Honor Among Thieves had two novelizations (one for young readers, one for older readers) and two tie-in novels. One featuring Edgin, Holga, Forge and Simon before the stuff with Sofina went down. And the other featuring Simon and Doric taking place at the time while Ed and Holga are in prison.

I am honest: I really, really liked the Ed and Holga novel. It was super cute and charming and really gives a better understanding of the characters.

But of course once again there is the thing: The books - just like the Pirates of the Caribbean books - were super undermarketed. Like, most people I know off do not even know that there were books released. Heck, even within the actual active fandom there are again and again people who will be surprised that those books exist.

And... I actually also think that the books waste one big ass opportunity, by not at all tying into the broader lore. They are super self-contained.

And that is actually just a waste. Because the place were Edgin lived in? Yeah, that place was super affected by the Second Sundering. Heck, that might have had to do something with his troubles.

Why is that an issue? Well, because... there was not a lot going on there that was inviting you to further interact with the world and learn more abotu what is happening. For once, again, because I think it is a super fun and interesting world. But also, because... WotC wants to make money and is so bad at it, that it really boggles my mind.

See, here is the thing: They could've used those characters - that really are fun and sympathetic characters - to create an accesspoint into that world.

Alright, so what about Baldur's Gate 3?

Which brings me to Baldur's Gate 3 and the thing that a lot of people have noticed: The other Baldur's Gate games - as well as some of the other games releasing around 2000 - had their own tie-in novels going into the characters, their background, but also what they were doing in the future.

Something that so far BG3 has not done, which some fans have already critized. Because a lot of people have actually gotten really invested into those characters. A lot of the kind of people especially who so far are underserved by a lot of the tie-in stuff: Queer and generally diverse audiences.

Like, I think there would be a lot of people, who totally would read a novel, about...

Astarion getting drawn into some sort of political intrigue in Baldur's Gate while serving Cazador

Karlach's time in Avernus

Some Adventure Wyll got dragged into while being the Blade of the Frontier.

Shadowheart going onto a mission for Shar (maybe together with Nocturne)

Whatever Gale was doing during the Second Sundering

Lae'zel's youth among the Githyanki

The Dark Urge and Gortash starting up the entire conspiracy

... whatever Halsin had been up to in his long live

Heck, people would eat that stuff up. And you could not only use it to worldbuild but also once more create some access into the world and what happened there. And they are kinda wasting a lot of potential by not bringing out those novels.

Of course, there is one big problem: BG3 makes it kinda hard to write about anything happening after the ending. Because as it is right now, someone is gonna be pissed if a novel set after the game does not go with the decision for a character they go for. Like, Ascended Astarion fans are gonna be pissed, if they go with Spawn Astarion - and the other way around. Same goes with every other character where you have those big decisions happening.

This is something they will have to tackle eventually if they plan on doing something with the characters in the future (no matter if we are talking Larian or WotC), but it is definitely an issue that just arises from the structure of the game.

Bonus of course is, that you just cannot define a canonical Tav. But without a Tav, you also gotta act as if the story of the game happened without a Tav, which still is not ideal. I am honestly not sure with how they are gonna deal with this on the long run.

Access via Characters

Alright, but what is the actual issue here?

Well, basically there are two hurdles to overcome for the accessibility of the lore. The first is the physical accessibility - aka, what I talked about in the last long blog post. The second meanwhile is more related to making the lore engaging. And that happens through characters.

It is for me what happened last year. I actually tried to engage with the lore as the movie came out - but only when BG3, that tied a lot more into the actual lore was released I actually found proper access to the lore. Because I had concrete things I could now look for because the game hinted at so much both through characters and major story events happening.

Here is the thing: If you just have the lore on its own, it is about as engaging as reading a history book. Sure, as your local history nerd I find reading history books fun, but most people really do not want to read a history book to engage with a hobby.

People will however engage with stories and characters that interest them. Which is where we get back to the thing I talked about at the beginning: Right now most canonical novels and stories still cater to an audience that is male, cishet, white and also, let's be frank, definitely over 30 years old. Leaving behind a lot of potential fans that theoretically make up a big part of the player-base, but actually do not engage a lot with the lore for this exact reason.

Look. DnD right now is fairly close to being an actual mainstream hobby, due to the recent proliferation of formerly nerdy stuff. And yet WotC is bleeding money, especially in regards of DnD.

If you ask me, sure... DnD should go into public domain. But it doesn't. And given that there are so many creative, skilled people working on this - no matter how dumb Hasbro is and how shitty of an employer they are - I actually do want them to succeed. I have really become engaged with this world now. And I think it is a pity that they clearly do not know how to market this stuff.

[excaryder]

Tiefling Gale from High Rollers (Cast plays DnD).

[soul-of-vengeance]

Cooler, Better Drow (and Lolth)

So this is a re-write of drow culture and the Lolth cult that I've had in my head for several years, ever since I played a Lolth-sworn drow in a friend's campaign. This is the first time I've refined it enough to write down. Hopefully someone will find it as fun as I do!

(A note: this is not part of my Anchored Worlds campaign setting, as Lolth technically doesn't exist anymore in that setting.)

The drow are not a "dark perversions" of surface elves, but merely another branch of the elven family tree. They are not as numerous as the elves above, but still number in the hundreds of thousands. Their population is fairly evenly divided among seven massive city-states in the Underdark, with a small number living in the world beyond and even, in a few special cases, above their brethren. How so many elves came to live beneath the surface is lost to history, a history most drow have no inclination to uncover. Even the oldest matriarchs remember only the comforting dark and hardship of the Underdark.

The four Lolth-sworn city-states are: Menzoberranzan (the “City of Spiders,” and the largest Lolth-sworn city,) Ched Nasad (the “City of Shimmering Webs”,)  Orlytlar (the “dark jewel”,) and Ust Natha (“the first.”) The three “free” drow city-states are Haundrauth, Erydndlyn, and Sshamath (the “City of Dark Weavings”.)

Drow Physiology

Drow at first glance resemble elves with their uniquely fey beauty, but with starkly different coloration. Drow skin tones range from jet black to light grey among one ethnicity, and from pale blue to pale purple in another. They typically have white or purple teeth. Their hair could be white, black, pale yellow, or occasionally coppery in color. Eyes could be various shades of red or pink, and some shades of near-white blue, lilac, or silver were not uncommon. 

Drow, having been so magically altered by their surroundings, cannot thrive in light. They are extremely sensitive to sunlight, so much so that only a day on a relatively cool day can cause painful burns. Those who must go above ground have specially-made balms to protect their skin. Their magic is weaker in the sun, and drow-enchanted items tend to lose their magic if they are above ground for longer than a week or two. Being in the sun too long can also cause "sun fever," which can be fatal if not dealt with.

Lolth-sworn Drow have been magically altered. They almost always have white hair and red eyes. This is a show of magical favor from their goddess, who has a fondness for those colors. They also typically have black or grey teeth, and bright red gums, tongue, and throats. Lolth-sworn women are also taller and stronger than their men. They may also rarely have some other interesting features.

Drow Culture

Drow are, of course, elves, and like all elves they are uniquely in tune with their surroundings. The Underdark is cold, harsh, dangerous, and unforgiving, and so too are the drow. The flora and fauna do not respond as kindly to elven magicks as those aboveground, so the drow have adapted without what is typically a cornerstone of elven culture. Cruelty is not seen as such, for their very circumstances are cruel, and so it is seen as perfectly normal. Softness and kindness are weaknesses that will get you killed in the wilds of the Underdark, and are discouraged even in civilization. 

When introducing themself, a drow will state first their House name, then their family name, and lastly their public name. Unlike other elves, drow do not have child and adult names, though they may change their given name if they dislike it. Drow have "public" names that are based on their true given names. Perhaps a remnant of their fey ancestry, they do not give their true given names lightly. For example, my drow character's given name is Shyam, and his public name is Sam.

Drow culture is matriarchal in nature and has a strict authority structure that begins with the family unit. Every family has a matriarch whose word is final in all matters. She may then have favored daughters who may make decisions in her stead. When she dies, her daughters will contest her position, in battles that can be physical, magical, or mental in nature. In the event that a family should ever be without a matriarch, the family name is recorded as being a "dead line," and the remaining men will petition to be adopted into another family. In the event that they are not adopted, slavery or exile to the surface are a man's only option.

Their culture is functionally caste-based, though the castes have no official names. The "castes" are, in order of authority: those of high religious standing (Houses), those of magical genius, those of artisanal prowess, those adept at combat, and those who make up the foundation. The entire family would be elevated (or lowered) to a caste depending on the skills and standing of their matriarch and her favored daughters.

Drow society is divided into Houses, which are headed by religious-caste noble families that take other non-noble families under their banner. Each House has its own distinct insignia, style, banner, and rules. Technically speaking, every drow belongs to a House even if they are born into a lower-caste family. Very rarely, a House may trade a family to another, either by choice of the House matriarch or, more commonly, by petition by the matriarch of the family. This is usually done to strengthen or elevate one's position, and requires proof that the family deserves the move.

Authority is very important to drow. They have absolute loyalty to their House matriarch first, family matriarch second, and blood mother third. Beyond that, the only other authority a drow will acknowledge is their god, if they worship one. They have no obligation to obey any other House matriarch, any other family matriarch, or even any female family member besides their mother. They will acknowledge no other law or order, even if they are in another city or country. Being in a king's country is not reason enough for a drow to follow his orders, especially an order she dislikes. A drow may play along simply to make her life easier, but she will make it clear where her loyalties lie. Even exiled drow will typically choose one individual to place their entire faith in, and will answer to no one else.

It is believed that every drow and every family has a "true place," or a "true calling," and that they are always born below their calling so that they can fight for it. In this way, the individual, and the family, become strong enough and cunning enough to survive. It is believed that eventually you will feel a sense of "divine contentment" that means you have found your place. Drow are in a constant struggle against one another to elevate themselves, and the harsh environment of the Underdark has made them harsh in turn. Violence, torture, extortion, and scheming are a drow's expected tools to advance in society.

Drow culture is, to outsiders, oxymoronic. On one hand, it is encouraged to view the drow around you as competitors to your true status in society, and it is encouraged to eliminate or humiliate them by any means necessary for your own advancement. However, there is also a strong importance placed on kin. A drow might view her sister as a bitter enemy for their mother's favor, but would still defend her from an assassin from another family. Similarly, a drow would always defend another drow from another species, but in the safety of their insular city-state, might stab her in the back in the street.

Artistry in all its forms is highly prized in drow society, and families will often strive to cultivate a favored child into an artisan worthy of elevating their family. Tangentially related to this is the hedonism that pervades drow culture. In the harsh environment of the Underdark, life and pleasure are not guaranteed, so it is said to take it wherever you can find it and enjoy it to its fullest.

Marriage is not very common, for loyalty to the family trumps other loves. Many drow may have one or even a handful of committed partners, but exchanging vows and names is extremely rare, and often seen as a betrayal of your birth family. The culture is extremely heteronormative. Due to the high mortality rate in the Underdark, having as many children as possible is encouraged, and to that end anything besides heterosexuality is frowned upon, if not punishable by religious law.

While a child will always be cared for by its mother's family, there is still good reason for the father to stay in the child and mother's good graces. A mother may pay a "child tithe" to the father of her child, which is usually based on the talent, beauty, potential, and magical ability of the child. A man who has exceptionally talented progeny may increase his family's wealth in this way. A mother will usually cultivate all of her children's talents, even her sons who cannot elevate the family. It is still a source of pride to have all your children be talented and worthy of praise.

Morality among drow is an interesting subject. The ruthless competition of their society lends itself to what a surfacer would consider deeply immoral behavior: political conniving, assassination, torture, and other "unsavory" behaviors are common. On the other hand, some things are forbidden by cultural norm. Rape and sexual violence are considered a disgusting act, as is desecration or disturbance of a dead (drow) body that has been laid to rest. Impersonating another drow by name or pretending to be of another House, even for the lauded purpose of elevation, is outright illegal and punishable by death at the hands of the slighted party.

The drow body is considered a masterwork of divinity, and extreme body modification is frowned upon. Tattoos, piercings, and dying one's hair are all seen as a form of desecration to the holy, and the punishment may be severe depending on how strict one's matriarch is. Hair is especially important to a drow. For one, hairstyle is an easy way to distinguish one's House. For another, their long hair is one of the vanities drow allow themselves. To cut one's hair dramatically (trims and accounting for style are permitted) is seen as cutting oneself off from the House. A drow will never cut her hair except under two circumstances: exile or certain death. The reasons to do so when exiled are obvious, but to do so before certain death is a superstition. It is believed that cutting your hair before facing your death is to ensure that the death doesn't creep into your family via your hair.

Slavery is one of the "unsavory" pillars of drow society that those within consider completely normal, and even natural. Their caste-based thinking extends past their selves and includes other species, which drow consider themselves above. That said, even drow (of lower caste) can be slaves. Slaves are considered part of a family's wealth, and can be obtained a number of ways. It is generally understood in the Underdark that to lose a fight against a drow is to forfeit your freedom to them. Slavery to a House is also a potential punishment for crimes against them. Slavery is a lifelong sentence, and slaves are given a magical tattoo that identifies them as such to drow. The tattoos are not House-specific, because slaves change hands as easily as currency.

The Dark Seldarine

The Dark Seldarine "pantheon" is not a true pantheon, but simply a group of gods worshiped by the drow.

Eilistraee is the most widely worshiped drow goddess, who oversees beauty, song, dance, freedom, moonlight, swordwork, and hunting. While she is typically thought of as a good-aligned goddess, she seems to have no issue with drow culture, which as stated is typically seen as deeply immoral. By contrast, she deeply loves her drow worshippers, whose love of life and pleasure aligns with her domain. 

Vhaeraun, the elder twin of Eilistraee, is a god of thievery and magic, and is seen as a patron of drow men. He is generally worshiped alongside his sister, though he prefers his followers to be more ambitious.

Selvetarm, also called the Son of Lolth, is a god of warriors and battle. His worship is chiefly among those who leave Lolth's cult and find sanctuary in other cities. He despises Lolth, and encourages those who leave to take up arms against her followers.

Kiaransalee has some small churches in the Underdark. A goddess of revenge and necromancy, her worship is controversial, as some of her followers will raise drow corpses, which is seen as desecration of the beloved dead.

Zinzerena is not usually openly worshiped. She is the goddess of lies and illusion, and shares patronage of assassins with Lolth, whom she despises.

Lolth

Lolth is a lesser deity associated with the Trickery and War domains. She is, by her own reckoning, a goddess of darkness, spiders, and chaos. She is the patron of weavers and assassins. Lolth is one example of a being that was raised to godhood. Originally a tanar'ri demon, she manipulated and schemed her way to such power that she was elevated to a god. This ruthless ambition and endless drive became the center of her divinity, as she demands the same qualities of her worshippers. She pulled her original fortress in the Abyss into its own divine realm known as the Demonweb Pits. She still has demons in her employ, the Yochlols, but is now chiefly concerned with spreading her worship.

Her former demonic nature is obvious in the way she approaches her followers. Though she does need them as any god needs worshippers, she views them as more like playthings, finding great amusement in all they do in her name and at her behest. Her tenets are almost similar to a demonic deal, as she offers power and protection in exchange for worship. To the educated, her priestesses are more akin to fiend-pacted warlocks than holy woman.

Lolth introduced herself to the drow (comparatively) recently, targeting priestesses at the head of powerful Houses to let her doctrine trickle down. She slotted her own worship neatly into existing drow culture, exaggerating what she liked and downplaying what she didn't. The Lolth-sworn city-states grew even more xenophobic and closed off than they already were, so much so that they do not even allow more than minimal trade with non-Lolth-sworn cities. Four of the seven drow city-states are Lolth-sworn.

Lolth is not as capricious or actively malicious to her worshippers as in D&D 5e canon, but she is by no means pleasant. She positioned herself to the drow as the ultimate matriarch, mother of the dark and chaos in which they lived. By allying themselves with her, the Lolth-sworn gain allies among other creatures living in the Underdark.

Lolth has extremely high standards and rigid rules that her worshippers must follow. She does change these rules at times, often waiting for someone to break the unknown tenet and making an example of them to spread the news. She encourages paranoia and sadism, and found the drow society structure one that fit nicely with her tastes. She amuses herself with the machinations and ambitions of her subjects.

Lolth's goal is to spread her influence as far as she can. She is currently looking to subjugate the entire Underdark, and then she plans to turn her gaze to the world above. She plans a two-pronged attack: invasion on the weaker nations above and indoctrination of the stronger.

The Cult of Lolth

The Cult of Lolth (though they call themselves a Church) is widespread, being practiced in over half of the drow city-states. Under Lolth's rule, some aspects of existing drow culture are magnified.

For instance, far past being matriarchal, Lolth has an active disdain for men due to several drow heroes who directly opposed her takeover…and were all, coincidentally, men. For this, she punishes all drow men. This bleeds through to her followers. In ordinary drow society, sons are not favored but are still cherished and allowed many of the same rights of women, but little authority. Under Lolth, however, men are close to second-hand citizens. A man is considered to be a caste below the women in his family. Men on the lowest class are essentially slaves. Though they cannot be traded as slaves can, they have little rights and are entirely at the mercy of their matriarchs.

To distinguish her drow from "the rabble," Lolth changed her earliest followers physically, and the changes slowly spread as worship did. Those in the Underdark can tell a Lolth-sworn from a mile away, and know to avoid them. Lolth is also far less strict on body modification and hair length, allowing tattoos, piercings, and even cutting one's hair. She delights in the inner conflict this causes, as the drow's cultural sensibilities clash with the freedom their goddess allows.

Another aspect she magnifies, which was the primary reason she chose the drow as her first worshippers, is the ambition. While drow culture believes everyone has a "true" place and your life's goal is to achieve it by any means, Lolth encourages her followers to always strive to go above and not settle, even if you feel what the drow refer to as "divine contentment" with your place. She delights in the sadism and chaos she sows among her followers.

While typical drow culture views violence as another art form to be perfected, Lolth favors brutality, sadism, and even desecration, pushing her followers to the brink of their sensibilities and beyond. Her followers have a reputation for treating those they kill and capture with a uniquely twisted form of sadistic torture.

Lolth is the patron of weavers, fiber crafters, and metalworkers. She placed a high importance on those particular crafts, and had a love of woven beauty. Of course, spiders and webs are a large motif that can be found in Lolth-sworn art, as well as the colors red and white. She favors these, and may even punish someone who creates a masterpiece that doesn't meet her preferences. 

Lolth desires to one day have all drow under her rule, and her followers sometimes attack other drow to be brought back as slaves and indoctrinated. Drow captured in this manner are an abnormality in society. These individuals (and only them) may be freed from slavery by marrying or being adopted into a House or family, only after swearing fealty to Lolth and passing a trial of faith. These drow are especially favored by Lolth and her worshippers, who sees them as the ultimate triumph of their faith.

One interesting, and potentially tragic, quirk of drow born into Lolth's cult is that, unlike all other elves including drow, they do not see their past lives when they meditate. It is unclear whether this is because they do not reincarnate or if Lolth is somehow suppressing their connection to their past lives. Some of the opponents of Lolth's cult believe that she takes her followers' souls when they die, though for what purpose is unclear.

As stated above, Lolth frequently changes the rules of her cult. However, three rules have never changed:

Worship only Lolth, and put her first. (Worship or fealty to any other god is forbidden, and Lolth demands total obedience. She even asks her worshippers to put her above even their mother and matriarchs, a challenging concept for many drow.)

Second to Lolth is the brood. (Protect kin at all costs. House first, then family, then all drow. She also demands they protect and cultivate spiders, including a demonic breed she created for this very purpose.)

Dig deeper into the darkness. (Be ruthlessly ambitious, do whatever it takes to survive and thrive. Take every avenue of power available to you.)

Driders

Driders are created when a faithful drow fails Lolth in a very specific way (more than simply not adhering to her tenets) or fails a test set by Lolth. They are transformed into a being that is extremely Lolth-like, a drow's upper torso with a spider's body below. It is a truly ironic punishment: although they now resemble their beloved goddess, the drow consider their body to be a sacred and beautiful thing, and any permanent transformation is a perversion of it. Worse, they are cut off from their family and exiled to the Underdark alone.

Driders are simultaneously pitied and reviled by Lolth-sworn and regular drow alike.